JLKP 4.1

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Section 4.1 Properties of Minerals (back to homepage)


Vocabulary


inorganic-an inorganic mineral can't arise from materials that were once part of a living thing
crystal- a solid that is formed by the repeated pattern of a mineral's particles
elements- a substance composed of only one kind of atom
compound- two or more elements mixed up/ combined
Moh's hardness scale- a scale that ranks the hardness of minerals from 1 through 10
streak- the color of a mineral's powder
luster- the term to describe how a mineral reflects light from its surface
cleavage- the term to describe if the mineral splits along flat edges
fracture- the term that describes how a mineral looks when it breaks apart in an abnormal way
florescence- the term to describe whether a mineral glows under ultraviolet light or not

Diagrams

Quartz.jpgMercury.jpg

Outline



  • What is a Mineral?
    • many different minerals
      • 3,000 minerals known
      • 100 common
      • 20 minerals make up Earth's crust
    • natural occurring minerals
      • to be a mineral, it has to be formed naturally (not made or manufactured by man-kind)
    • inorganic
      • a mineral cannot be made from an object/material that was part of a living thing
        • coal is not a mineral because it comes from the remains of plants and animals from a long time ago
    • solid
      • a mineral must be solid to be a mineral
    • crystal structure
      • a mineral has to have a certain crystal structure
        • the pattern is what forms a crystal
    • definite chemical composition
      • minerals consist of a sure proportion of element
    • most minerals are compounds
  • Identifying Minerals
      • different minerals can look the same
    • pyrite was often mistaken for gold during the gold rush
      • ways to differnciate minerals
    • color is not a good way to tell apart minerals
      • because minerals can share the same color
    • every mineral has a specific property that will tell it apart from everything else
      • you can do experiments to identify rocks
    • hardness
      • Mohs Hardness Scale
    • created by Friedrich Mohs
    • it has ten minerals that are reanked from softest to hardest
    • color
      • can only identify a couple minerals who don't share their color with any other mineral
      • malachite is always green
      • azurite is always blue
    • streak
      • streak is the color of the mineral's powder
    • to do a streak test, rub it against a piece of tile that is not glazed (that is called a streak plate)
      • the streak and the color of the actual mineral are almost always different
      • pyrite's streak is greenish black
      • gold's streak is golden yellow
    • luster
      • luster is how a mineral looks when light reflects off it's surface
    • shiny materials usually have metals in them
      • galena (which contains led, a metal) has a shiny luster
    • quartz has a glassy luster
    • terms to describe luster
      • earthy, waxy, pearly, metallic, bright
    • density
      • the density will always be the same for each mineral no matter how big or small it is
      • ways to measure or compare density
    • pick up two different minerals and see which one is heavier
      • the heavier one is more dense
        • geologists use a balance or they place the mineral in water to see how much it displaces
    • crystal systems
      • crystal structure is formed atom by atom
      • geologists sort the different structures into six groups called crystal systems
    • it is based on the number and angle of the faces of the crystal
    • names of crystal systems
      • cubic, hexagonal, tetragonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, and triclinic
    • cleavage and fracture
      • cleavage is only found in certain minerals depending on how their atoms are arranged
      • minerals with fracture
    • quartz, copper, and iron
    • special properties
      • fluorescence is a special property found in only certain minerals
    • shalite is fluorescence
      • magnetism
    • lodestone is magnitized
      • radioactive
    • uraninite is an example of a radioactive mineral
      • reaction to chemicals
    • calcite fizzes when you drop a drop of vinegar on it
      • electrical properties
    • quartz
      • is often used in watches, microphones, and radio transmitters because of its electrical properties